Adorning your feet with beautiful high heel shoes can cause you to develop unsightly foot deformities.  When shoes keep the feet positioned in an unnatural way for an extended period of time, some foot muscles contract while others weaken.  Over time, the toe position can become too rigid and painful that only surgery can fix it.

The good news is that you can help prevent the development of foot deformities like hammertoes (a contracted toe).  Before they can even develop, or while they are still flexible.  There are some foot exercises you can do at home for prevention.

Here are 3 simple foot exercises you can do regularly to help keep your feet looking toe-rific.

Marble Pick-Ups. Foot exercise for strong feet and to prevent deformities like hammertoes.

1.  MARBLE PICK-UPS

Use your toes to pick up marbles and place them in a bowl.

Towel Crunches. Foot exercise for stong feet and to prevent foot deformities like hammertoes

2.  TOWEL CRUNCHES

Crunch a small towel with your toes.  For added resistance, perform it on carpeting or place a weight on top of the opposite end of the towel.

Wear toe separators overnight to help prevent hammertoe deformites

3.  TOE SEPARATOR POSITIONING

Wear toe separators to help position the toes back from being contracted.  You can even try sleeping with them on your feet.

Visit your local podiatrist who can also prescribe special pads and splints that can help prevent and relieve hammertoe deformities.  They may even discover that your hammertoes are caused by other conditions like arthritis, stroke, or a neurological problem.

There are other things you can do to avoid foot problems later on.  One is wearing high heels in moderation.  Reserve them only for special occasions.  Heels are dress shoes that should not be worn by someone who works on their feet all day.  Another thing is to keep the heel height below 2 inches.   This will help reduce the pressure placed on the front of the feet.

So, don’t forget to gather your equipments to exercise your feet.  Your toes need to be strong to fight the high heel forces that can cause hammertoes.